One of the things that I struggle with the most when it comes to rating short story collections is that in every collection, there’s always at least a few stories that didn’t work for me. With this short story collection, I really enjoyed quite a few. With that being said, my favorite stories were:

Eye and Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse
Lasirèn by Erin E. Adams (I am not kidding when I say I would read Erin’s grocery list if she published it)
The Rider by Tananarive Due
Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor
Flicker by LD Lewis
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson
The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broaddus
Hide & Seek by P. Djèlí Clark

When it came to the stories that I didn’t love (still liked), it was mostly because I felt like they ended too abruptly and I didn’t grasp the full impact.

A lot of the stories within Out There Screaming evaluate tough subjects through a Black lens. Such as grief, race, death, trauma, among many others. I appreciated the different kinds of horror used throughout the book, whether it be more psychological or cosmic and I really felt the impact when certain stories grabbed onto the history of what it means to be Black in America.

If you like any of Jordan Peele’s movies such as Get Out, Us, or Nope, this book should absolutely be a must read for you this October.

Jordan Peele initially drew me to this book, but the author’s stories are what kept me going. These are the types of stories where you have to read in between the lines and really absorb the messages that are being set.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy of this ARC. I went into it blind, not really knowing anything about it. It's hard to rate anthologies because I enjoyed some and others not so much. But in the end, the book is a great collection of horror and really makes you think. I would definitely read full books by many of the contributors.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy.

As soon as I heard this anthology was coming out, it became one of my most anticipated releases of the year. It absolutely lived up to my expectations. There are stories included that were so good, so mind-blowing that I ended up buying all the author's works. Strong 5 stars.

Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jamison ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Wandering Devil by Cadwell Turnbull ⭐⭐⭐
Invasion of the Baby Snatchers by Lesley Nneka Arimah ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
The Other One by Violet Allen ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lasirén by Erin E. Adams ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25
The Rider by Tananarive Due ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Aesthete by Justin C. Key ⭐⭐⭐.5
Pressure by Ezra Claytan Daniels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dark Home by Nnedi Okafor ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25
Flicker by J.D. Lewis ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson ⭐⭐⭐.5
The Norwood Trouble by Maurice Broadus ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Grief of the Dead by Rion Amilcar Scott ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Bird Sings By the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Sconiers ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
An American Fable by Chesya Burke ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Hide & Seek by P. Djélí Clark ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Origin Story by Tochi Onyebuchi ⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

I was so excited when I got approved to read Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror edited by Jordan Peele before it was released! I am a horror girl okay?? And I especially love BLACK horror, so I couldn’t wait to dive into this collection! But sadly, I hated it and couldn’t even finish. I got through nine of the stories and then quit.

So many stories in this collection were pointless and directionless. I would spend the whole story waiting for something to happen, and then the story would end and nothing ever happened… The stories felt unfinished. I ended almost every single story with questions.

The only story that I really loved was The Rider by Tananarive Due. This is not a shock because Tananarive Due is my favorite author of all time, so of course she delivered! There were a couple other stories that I thought were kinda good, but I only enjoyed them compared to the other terrible stories in the collection. Tananarive Due’s story is the only story that would hold up in a collection full of great stories.

This is the most disappointing book I have read all year…

I go into more detail about my thoughts in my YouTube video review, so make sure you watch that! (@BookTribe)

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this arc. All opinions are my own.

To be honest the only thing that caught my eye on this cover was the name Jordan Peele. As far as book covers go it's kind of bland for the horror genre.
Being a huge fan of Jordan Peele movies I had hoped that the stories here would be as "spine-chilling" as his films. (As claimed in the synopsis)

Unfortunately, it's an inconsistent mixed bag more like his hit-or-miss Twilight Zone episodes were.
Stories worth a mention were Eye and Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse, about monster hunting siblings.
Lasiren by Erin E Adams about children who have been warned to never trust a woman alone in the water.
The Rider by Tananarive Due in which two sisters take an unexpected detour on their way to join the freedom riders in Montgomery. and Hide and Seek by P. Djeli Clark about children being raised by a mother with a strange addiction.

You may enjoy it more than I did. For me it was just an OK read.

4.5. What a stellar collection of stories, Jordan Peele really excelled here in curating this anthology. I was only familiar with a few of these featured authors before reading, but I've definitely found several new folks I really want to read more from in the future. My personal favorites were The Other One by Violet Allen, Pressure by Ezra Claytan Daniels, Flicker by L.D. Lewis, and Hide & Seek by P. Djeli Clark. So many of these stories could have easily been full length novels, however there's something special about restricting them to short fiction. It packs a different kind of punch; fast and hard, leaving you wondering who you are and what just happened. A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

It's no surprise that Jordan Peele, one of the most influential horror voices in the genre, knows how to pick a well rounded collection of horror and dark fantasy tales by Black authors who are up and coming or established in the horror lit community. I really liked lots of these stories, a number of which I loved, and while a couple didn't work for me it was more because they were more science fiction based (which is a genre I don't really care for). My favorite stories were "Eye & Tooth" by Rebecca Roanhorse, "The Rider" by Tananarive Due, and "Dark Home" by Nnedi Okorafor, but there were so many others that I enjoyed that it was hard to pick a top three. And while I had read a few of these authors I now have a number of new to me authors that I will be checking out post haste. This is a perfect read for the upcoming Halloween season, with many themes, supernatural horrors and realistic horrors of American racism to name just a couple.

OUT THERE SCREAMING is a great anthology. I hope Jordan Peele edits more. Until then, I have a bunch of new authors to check out.

Fascinating creepy and unsettling but all a beautiful tapestry of horror. I love short story collections for this reason. There is so much variety. I especially loved Invasion of the Baby Snatchers, Lesirèn, A Bird Sings by the Etched Tree and Your Happy Place but all have their moments.
Felt like Jordan Peele’s twilight Zone of horror and I enjoyed the crazy ride.

I enjoyed most of the stories in Out There Screaming. There is something for everyone. There's some heavy hitters in this book too. P. Djeli Clark and Tananarive Due were really good. It a great book to keep reading, but I forced myself to space it out. I would have liked to know in the Table of Contents which author wrote which story, but it was not listed (it is listed when you get to the actual story). Overall, a great anthology.

An anthology of 19 horror stories by black authors.

I enjoyed this collection. There's something for everyone here-- body, psychological, cosmic, creatures, ghosts, historical horror etc In some cases every day life and social injustice is the horror at the core.
The fun thing is, many of the stories have unexpected twists or takes on the genre. This is an important, necessary collection. We need to hear all voices and lenses, especially within the horror community, where proper representation can often be lacking, or underexposed.

Phenomenal! A haunting, and occasionally hilarious, black horror anthology. I was so excited to be offered an eARC for this book. I am a huge fan of Jordan Peele, as well as most of the featured authors. What a terrifyingly chilling treat to read. I absolutely recommend and can't wait until my preorder arrives.

Anthologies are so hard to rate, different authors with different styles all competing for the reader to pick theirs as one of the favorites. I love this project and there is a super strong lineup of absolutely fantastic authors contributing. Overall I’d say it was split 50/50 of ones that knocked it out of the park and ones I’d probably skip.

Shoutout out to Nalo Hopkinson, Justin C. Key, P. Djeli Clark, N.K. Jemison, and Nnedi Okorafor - they had my favorites for this collection.

This was my first time reading some of the authors, and it has made me very excited to pick up other things they’ve written.

I received an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will read or watch anything that Jordan Peele releases without needing to see a synopsis. So when I saw that he was releasing a HORROR ANTHOLOGY during spooky season, I peed a little.

Seriously, the author roster in this collection is just insane, and I enjoyed a majority of the stories. Some of my favorites were from Nnedi Okorafor, P. Djèlí Clark, and Cadwell Turnbull.

The stories in Out There Screaming range from creepy to downright terrifying, and features elements of horror, folklore, and the supernatural.

Check this collection out if you like any of the above, and especially check out that author list if you aren't convinced yet!!

**Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC of this collection!!**

Horror story collection featuring all Black authors and edited by Jordan Peele. Per usual with anthologies, not every story will be a hit (I personally don’t love cosmic horror) but there were some absolute standouts. The range here is great, definitely something to be had for all types of horror fans.

DNF at 37%. I was very excited to read this collection, as I have enjoyed many of the authors in this collection, and I love Jordan Peele’s movies. However, only the first few stories really worked for me, and I found myself not enjoying the rest. I think others will enjoy this one, it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free e arc in exchange for an honest review.

As with any anthology, there are stories I really liked and stories I just couldn't get into at all. This collection seems to have a few more of the latter for my tastes, but my favorite stories were "Your Happy Place" and "Eye & Tooth." I've noted those authors as ones whose writing/style I really like, and I will certainly be reading more of their work at some point.

All in all, not a bad collection, and I would recommend to others who like this genre as well as want to test out various authors' writing in a shortened format.

3.5 stars

**I received an ARC copy of this book from NetGalley and am leaving this review voluntarily. Any thoughts and comments contained within are my own.**

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror is easily one of the best anthologies I've read in the past five years. The standout stories are 'The Rider' by Tananarive Due and "The Flicker' by L. D. Lewis. The entire anthology is great, but these two in particular stand out, and I loved the historical bent of Due's work. I will absolutely recommend this to folks. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

😱REVIEW😱

"When I try to wrap my lips around a story I'm not supposed to tell, it sours my tongue."

Out There Screaming, an anthology of Black horror edited by Jordan Peele, is a little uneven but has something for every horror fan.

I've never reviewed a short story collection so bear with me as I work through my thoughts. Like other short story collections, there are stories that stand out and are exciting to read. On the other hand, there were plenty that I had to push myself to get through.

In my opinion, the stories that were the most successful were clearly written and thoughtfully embraced the horror genre to its fullest. Some of the stories barely grazed the surface in terms of their connection to horror, which led to some disappointing sections for me (I realize this might just be personal preference). Maybe I'm desensitized from all the horror movies my husband and I watch, but some stories lack the punch that horror provides.

Stories that connected back to mythology, spiritual beliefs and the supernatural were amongst the strongest and more thrilling of the bunch. My favourites included Lasiren, The Rider, Dark Home, Flicker and The Norwood Trouble. I will definitely be checking out what other stories these writers have told.

That being said, there is something here for everybody who appreciates the horror genre. With stories weaving in sci-fi, speculative fiction, dystopian elements and more, you're bound to find something that you'll enjoy. And while I did appreciate how creative the authors were in how they incorporated horror into their stories, some of the stories could've benefited from a clearer and more direct connection to the genre.

Like any anthology, there were some stories that I loved and others that felt a little weaker. I mostly really enjoyed all the stories though, they were horrifying and uncomfortable and sad and creepy. I especially liked the stories by Tananarive Due and P Djeli Clark. Overall, I really liked this anthology, I discovered a lot of amazing new (to me) authors, and it's a perfect read for the spooky season.

A big thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.